Amazonia is a
strange amalgamation of scripted narrative film and nature documentary, which
seems unconventional by today’s standards despite a tradition of these type of
films from Disney in the past. Though the facts about nature are accurate and
informative, we follow a single narrative involving a monkey which has clearly
been fabricated as the vehicle for the delivery of educational information.
Though there may be some who will prefer the realism of actual nature
documentary material, Amazonia is perfect for younger audiences unaccustomed to
the more unpredictable elements of nature. This G-rated film provide
educational information within the safety of a sanitized script.

As a
screenwriter, Anders Thomas Jensen has provided some of the strongest material
for a few very serious-minded Danish filmmakers, which quite ironic considering
the tone of the films which he seems to prefer making as a director. Although
it has been 10 years since his last project as director, Jensen hasn’t missed a
beat. Men & Chicken would make a
perfect companion piece to Adam’s Apples (2005),
not to mention the darkly comic similarities The Green Butchers (2003).

Skiptrace feels like a movie made 15
years ago, and in many ways I mean that as a compliment. There is also a valid
reason for the feeling of nostalgia brought on by this film, as it rejoins star
Jackie Chan with director Renny Harlin, who were originally in the process of
planning a film to take place on the World
Trade Center
when the attacks of 9/11 occurred. That film was understandably scrapped, and
Chan went on to make The Tuxedo
instead, which was the beginning of Chan’s shift from the physical comedy of
his own stunt work to a reliance on CGI to make up for the growing limitations
of his age. But despite being made a decade and a half after The Tuxedo, Skiptrace feels like a return to the signature Jackie Chan style.

Nerve boasts an original idea with
relevant modern commentary on the digital age and an over-reliance on social
media for feelings of self worth, though it often feels like a creative concept
destroyed by poorly drawn characters and increasingly idiotic plot twists.
Individual traits only seem to exist in order for each character to shift the
narrative where it needs to be, altered at the drop of a hat without
consideration of consistency. The story manipulates everything in Nerve, including the audience. Rather
than intelligently applying its themes, directors Henry Joost and Ariel
Schulman merely cram them into a typical action movie formula.

If Gleason were a scripted narrative film,
it would likely come off as contrived. And yet, the intimacy that the camera is
often able to achieve far surpasses the typical level of realism found even in
the documentary format. This is exactly the type of complexity through contrast
found within many elements of director Clay Tweed’s film. This is a film with
brutally raw language, but amidst the casual use of the “F” word is an honest
discussion about faith that would benefit even the most conservative of
Christians. Gleason is a devastating front-row seat to the effects of a disease
which destroys the physical body, while serving as an uplifting testament to
the soul of the man within.

Sometimes the
difference between making a good documentary and a great one is just the simple
luck of being at the right place at the right time. If I had to guess, I would
assume that director Jennifer Peedom set out to make Sherpa as a film about the record-breaking climb of Everest by one
of the local guides. Had he completed the summit during the 2014 expedition,
Sirdar Phurba Tashi Sherpa would have beaten the record for the number of times
a single person has reached the top of the infamous mountain. While that may
have been the original intentions of Peedom’s film, it quickly became about
something else as a tragic avalanche occurred during the 2014 expedition, taking
the lives of a record number of Sherpa guides in one afternoon.

There are two
ways to approach the review of the second volume of the fifth and final season
of “Hell on Wheels.” I could review the content itself, which would be nothing
but high praise for the emotional resonance of these final episodes.
Unfortunately, the release plan for the last season has not been nearly as
admirable as the content. Rather than waiting to release the entire final
season together, they split it up into two separate packages with only 7
episodes in each. Considering the cost of each release, it is difficult not to
see this as a direct insult to the fans.

Certain films
will lend themselves to the viewing enhancements brought by 4K better than
others. Animation will always see the most noticeable upgrading, because of the
technology used to create these films, and this is also why large budget action
films with computer generated effects also appear improved. While the first
film in The Hunger Games franchise
had a noticeably smaller budget, all of the films benefit from this new format.